ThyroCx”, a Radioactive Iodine Therapy Mobile Application: Patient Education, Simulation, E-Record and E-Planning

Background: Using radioactive Iodine (131 I) therapy is one of the treatment methods in patients with thyroid cancer. Due to high energy and ionizing radiations of 131 I and also because of serious pre-treatment preparation, patients who are candidate of receiving Iodine, should be well educated about pre-treatment percussions, duration of hospitalization and follow up. Also these patients need to have a complete organized record of their workups which can lead to a better medical planning. Method: In order to collect necessary data we searched in medical database such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google scholar. Then, by reviewing Nuclear Medicine text books, requirements of the patients who are candidate to receive therapeutic radioactive Iodine were listed and finally according to the FDA definition and regulations, a mobile medical application was suggested. Result: Based on patients’ need in the field of education, this parts consist of: “What is Radioactive Iodine Therapy?”, “Pre-treatment care” and “Post treatment care”. The second part is simulation, which can be a kind of patient education. In this part the isolated condition that patient may experience in the course of hospitalization is simulated. This way, patients learn how to call a nurse when necessary, how to receive their food and how to communicate other isolated hospitalized patients. The third part is considered as E-record, which contain all previous workups related to the thyroid cancer problem including thyroid imaging, lab data, pathology report, dosage and date of radioactive Iodine treatments and operations. Finally, the last part called E-Planning, define patient next plan according to the last imaging report and lab data. Conclusion: By using ThyroCx, a mobile application about radioactive Iodine therapy, patients achieve general information about their disease, different treatment alternatives especially radioactive Iodine therapy and the situation in which they will be hospitalized and isolated. Also they will have a mobile E-record which can guide them for future follow up and treatment plan.